Former Stoke-on-Trent BNP man criticises party (UK)

A former leader of the British National Party (BNP) in Stoke-on-Trent has criticised his old party as he prepares to fight it in the general election.

Alby Walker said "there's a vein of Holocaust denying within the BNP".
Mr Walker will stand as an independent parliamentary candidate in Stoke-on-Trent Central and face the BNP's national deputy leader, Simon Darby.
Mr Darby said the chances of Mr Walker becoming an independent MP for Stoke-on-Trent "are zero".
Mr Darby said: "It should be obvious to everybody that this is somebody who's a bit disillusioned with the party, as many people within other parties become disillusioned, struck out for themselves and want to become an independent candidate."
Mr Walker told the BBC's Politics Show in the West Midlands: "There's a vein of Holocaust denying within the BNP that I cannot identify myself with.
"They've still got senior members of the BNP who will be candidates in the general election that have Nazi, Nazi-esque sympathies."
Mr Walker had been in the BNP for eight years and was leader of the group of nine BNP councillors on Stoke-on-Trent City Council until he quit in January.

BBC News

UNESCO AND FC BARCALONA ARE LAUNCHING A CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM

UNESCO and FC Barcelona will launch a campaign against racism within the agreement between the two institutions in November 2007. The starting point of the campaign will kick off at next Wednesday's game 24th at the Nou Camp between Barca and Osasuna, during which a series of messages will be disseminated against racism, explained a statement from UNESCO. Later this year, several events are planned such as a public hearing in which the players of Barcelona will "add their voices to those who reject racism".

A previous cooperative project titled Youth, voices against racism, was conducted in 2008-2009 in collaboration with the European Parliament and the International Coalition of Cities against Racism, youths aged from 15 to 18 participated in the design and preparation of local policies and activities against racism. Many of these proposals are going to be implemented in this new campaign, which launches on the eve of The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, commemorated on March 21. In this framework, the UNESCO headquarters in Paris is now the scene of a youth symposium on racism and racial discrimination, at which is discussed, among other things, how to combat these phenomena. At the end of the symposium the opening of an exhibition of some thirty photographs of Rosa Luxemburg school of Aubervilliers, on the outskirts of Paris, is planned which shows a variety of relationships between people of different backgrounds "when they have gone beyond stereotypes and prejudice".
barcelonare porter

JEWS SAY HATE CRIMES AND ANTI-ISRAEL RAGE ARE DRIVING SOME OF THEM OUT OF THEIR SWEDISH CITY

Marcus Eilenberg is a Swedish Jew whose family roots in Malmo go back to the 19th century. His paternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors who found shelter in this southern Swedish city in 1945. His wife's parents fled to Sweden from communist Poland in the 1960s. Now the 32-year-old law firm associate feels the welcome for Jews is running out, and he is moving to Israel with his wife and two children in May. He says he knows at least 15 other Jews who are leaving for a similar reason. That reason, he says, is a rise in hate crimes against Jews in Malmo, and a sense that local authorities have little desire to deal with a problem that has exposed a crack in Sweden's image as a bastion of tolerance and a haven for distressed ethnic groups. Anti-Semitic crimes in Sweden have usually been associated with the far right, but Shneur Kesselman, an Orthodox rabbi, says the threat comes from Muslims. "In the past five years I've been here, I think you can count on your hand how many incidents there have been from the extreme right," he said. "In my personal experience it's 99 percent Muslims." Sweden prides itself on having taken in tens of thousands of the world's war refugees, and Malmo, its third largest city, should be a showcase: 7 percent of its 285,000 people were born in the Middle East, according to city statistics, and it has large numbers of from the Balkans, including the Macedonian who heads the city's largest mosque. After the Holocaust, it took in many Jews who survived the World War II Nazi genocide. Bejzat Becirov, the mosque head, said he feels "great sympathy for the Jewish community" and knows what it's going through because "the Muslim community, too, is exposed to Islamophobia." He listed a range of incidents, including an anthrax letter sent to him after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York, and several arson attacks against his mosque.


But Jews are feeling the heat disproportionately. Malmo police say that of 115 hate crimes reported in 2009, 52 were anti-Semitic. Becirov estimated there are about 60,000 Muslims in Malmo, while the number of Jews is about 700 and shrinking — it was twice as big two decades ago, according to Fredrik Sieradzki, a spokesman for the Jewish community. Last year at least 10 of the hate crime complaints were filed by Kesselman, from the Brooklyn-based Chabad-Lubavitch movement, whose black fedora and long beard single him out as he moves around the city. Walking home from the Jewish community center on Malmo's snow-flecked streets, the 31-year-old rabbi recalls some of the worst incidents: a young man who shouted "Heil Hitler" and chased him off a city bus; a car that suddenly reversed and almost hit him on the crosswalk by the opera house. "A typical situation is I'm walking in the streets and a car with Muslim youth between 18 and 30 will roll down the window and yell '(expletive) Jew,' give me the finger and shout something in Arabic," he said. Malmo's Jewish community is mostly secular and long felt safe because few display Jewish symbols that would distinguish them from other Swedes. But things changed after a series of fierce anti-Israel protests and a spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes following Israel's offensive in Gaza last year, which deeply angered Malmo's Arab immigrants. Tempers flared when Jews held a peaceful pro-Israel rally outside City Hall a week after the offensive ended. A bigger crowd waving Palestinian flags threw bottles, eggs and firecrackers. Tensions rose again two months later when Malmo authorities, saying they couldn't guarantee security, forced Sweden and Israel to play their Davis Cup tennis matches in a near-empty stadium as police held off rock-throwing anti-Israel activists outside who wanted to stop the competition completely. Eilenberg said it was a wake-up call — "a degree of hate that none of us — except those who survived the Holocaust — had experienced before."
Jewish groups say anti-Semitic attacks increased in several European countries following the Gaza war, notably the Netherlands and France. Across the narrow Oresund Strait, Jews in Copenhagen say they have also felt a rise in Muslim anti-Semitism but are less worried, said Yitzchok Loewenthal of the Jewish International Organization in the Danish capital. "The fundamental difference is that here in Copenhagen, Jews feel that the police, state and authorities take the issue very seriously and are on top of the situation, while in Malmo the Jewish community feel unsafe because the political will is not there," he said. Malmo's Jews say they feel little support from Mayor Ilmar Reepalu, a left-winger who told a Swedish newspaper in January he thought the anti-Semitism was coming from extreme-right groups. He also drew criticism for suggesting the Malmo Jews should distance themselves from Israeli violence against civilians in Gaza. "Instead they choose to hold a demonstration ... which can send the wrong signals," Reepalu was quoted as saying by Skanska Dagbladet. Jewish leaders sensed a blame-the-victim attitude. Reepalu has since spoken out against anti-Semitism and claims the media twisted his comments. In an interview aired by Danish broadcaster TV2 this month, Reepalu said he was being misrepresented by "the Israeli lobby who aren't interested in what I say and believe." Reepalu didn't respond to repeated requests for an interview with The Associated Press. The city recently appointed an anti-hate crimes coordinator, Bjorn Lagerback, who said Reepalu has sent a letter to the city's 20,000 employees denouncing all attacks against minorities in Malmo, though without specifically mentioning Jews. Asked whether Jews were particularly targeted by hate crimes in Malmo, Lagerback said anti-Semitism had become "more explicit." He added that "we also have discrimination against women who wear a hijab. They are also exposed to various kinds of insults."

Susanne Gosenius, a hate crimes investigator at Malmo's police department, said the rise in anti-Semitic incidents was linked to the Middle East conflict, and immigrants who are "having a hard time distinguishing between Israel and Jews." Malmo is one of several examples of how conflicts related to the Middle East and Islam have been carried into Sweden's streets. There was an alleged plot to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks for his caricature of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body, and an article in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet last year that caused Jewish and Israeli outrage by claiming, without any evidence, that Israeli soldiers harvested organs from dead Palestinians. Daniel Levin said he has felt stronger animosity toward Jews since moving from Stockholm to Malmo to study real estate. "It's not recommended to walk around with a Star of David. That's how bad it is," he said, referring to the symbol many Jews wear on necklaces. Levin was warming up for practice on a frozen dirt field with SK Hakoah, a low-ranking Malmo soccer team with a Jewish history and a few Jews among its players. Hakoah Coach Daniel Krook said that in matches against teams with players and fans from Muslim countries his players have been subjected to anti-Jewish slurs and even pitch invasions. The team asked to be moved to a league outside the city, but local soccer officials refused. This year, Hakoah is in the same league as Palestinska, which plays in the colors of the Palestinian flag. Krook said he expected police protection when the two teams play. But Ali Kabalan, a representative of Palestinska, didn't foresee any trouble and said spectators would be urged to refrain from violence. "Put politics aside," Kabalan said. "It's best for everybody."

Associated Press

SKINHEADS ARRESTED AFTER SKIRMISH WITH GAY RALLY IN BULGARIA

Six men were arrested in Bulgaria’s Pazardzhik after they assaulted physically a rally supporting gay rights. Six activists of the youth organization “Lesbians, Gay, Bi- and Transgender in Action” arrived to the city of Pazardzhik from Sofia in order to protest an order to local City Council banning the display of homosexuality in public. The activities arranged large banners on which they started writing articles from the Bulgarian Constitution and the UN Human Rights Charter. No local gay rights activists joined them, Darik Radio reported. However, about 100 local young men most of them with shaved heads and in black clothes staged an anti-rally claiming they had gathered to express their support for the order issued by the City Council. As several of skin heads members attacked the gay rights activists they were immediately knocked down to the ground and arrested by the policemen guarding the rally, who were led personally by the head of the Pazardzhik Police Directorate, Commissar Stoyan Stoyanov. No-one was hurt during the skirmish. However, the anti-rally protestors shouted offensive slogans directed against the gay rights activists such as “No one wants you, losers”, “Out of Pazardzhik”, “Go to Uganda, freaks”. The gay rights organization has attacked the order of the Pazardzhik Municipality before Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection from Discrimination, which is to come up with a ruling on Wednesday.

novinite

Prosecutors must 'raise game' on disabled hate crime (UK)

The Crown Prospection Service should do more to help disabled victims of hate crime, an official has admitted.
Joanna Perry of the CPS's equality and diversity unit said the prosecution service for England and Wales needed to "raise its game" over the issue.
She added that it must secure more successful prosecutions against those who target people with disabilities.

The CPS has issued new guidelines to the police which it says will help increase the number of prosecutions.
The police and prosecution service have had marked success in tackling race, religious and homophobic crime, but admit they have been less successful in combating disabled hate crime - where hostility towards a person is based on their disability.
Ms Perry's comments follow the case of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her disabled daughter Francecca Hardwick, 18, after years of abuse from a gang in Barwell, Leicestershire.
In an interview with the BBC, Ms Perry said: "We know that disabled people probably think enough is not being done in this area.

"We think that the CPS could raise its game and that we could better identify where there is hostility against disabled people - in other words, where there's evidence we can bring to the courts' attention that shows that this crime, for example, was not just a robbery, it was a disability hate crime robbery."

But Ian Kelcey, the chair of the Law Society criminal law committee, warned that many such cases would not make it into court
"A lot of these cases may fall at the first hurdle," he said.

"When people with disabilities realise they've got to go to court, they've got to give evidence, they may feel somewhat disempowered, somewhat reluctant to go to court because of the issue of repercussions."

The police say disabled hate crime is often difficult to define it but that better training has raised awareness.

Chief Constable Steve Otter, from the Association of Chief Police Officers, said agencies needed to work together to tackle the problem.
"There's no doubt we can do more. It's very challenging - we have to make sure our officers are trained properly so they can identify disability and mental health issues.

"We have to make sure that we can get the evidence into court in an admissible way and we have to make sure that we are working really hard to prevent these things from happening in the first place."

BBC News

A BNP leader being probed again for death threats

A BNP leader is being probed after a chilling death threat against Labour peer Baroness Uddin appeared on his Facebook site.

BNP's deputy leader Roger Phillips, 42, allegedy posted a message saying: "were going to hang you one day. Regards the BNP."

He used the site 15 minutes earlier to urge members of the far-Right party to: "Message this bitch and tell her what we think of her". Bangladesh-born Muslim Lady Uddin, 50, has faced allegations of fiddling £30,000 expenses on a home. But she denied wrong-doing and no charges were brought

It is understood she has received other death threats this month. A Labour source said: "She finds it extremely upsetting and disturbing."


Phillips, 42, BNP deputy organiser for West Wales, is on bail after claims that a film-maker received threatening calls. The BNP and Phillips were not available for comment

The People

EDL in Bolton:- the morning after

The following news item has appeared in the Times newspaper in regard to the protests by the EDL and anti-racist organisations in Bolton.

We at the Stand Up To Hate blog do not condone or support violence, but nether do we support the belief that a racist organisation like the EDL should be un-challenged in its actions.
The rally cry of the anti-racists/anti-fascist  around the world has been “No Pasarán” (none shall pass) a cry that had is origin Battle of Verdun between the French and Germany armies in World War I by French General Robert Nivelle and was the rallying call at the Battle of Cable street by the anti-racists/anti-fascist protestors against the British Fascists Oswald Mosley.
Its meaning is simple. The racists/fascist shall not go unchallenged.
Violence unfortunately does occur and often occurs. And it can never be advocated, encouraged or supported. But neither should demonstrations in support of racial hatred be seen as acceptable and go unchallenged.
It’s a very thin and treacherous path to walk between the two. But unfortunately still with all its perils and pit falls it is a path that has to be taken.

Bolton EDL March
Riot police battled to control thousands of rival demonstrators taking part in an ill-tempered city centre protest organised by a controversial right-wing group.

Hundreds of officers, some horse-mounted and armed with batons, separated supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) and members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF).
Two officers were injured following ugly clashes: one fractured a finger, the other was bitten by a police dog. A police helicopter was also dispatched to assist the officers on the ground. There was a total of 67 arrests, 55 of which were UAF supporters and the remaining 12 EDL, police said.
The EDL organised the rally in Bolton, Lancashire, to protest against "radical Muslims" and Sharia law. At its height there were some 2,000 EDL and a further 1,500 UAF protestors.
The main protest took place in front of the town hall, which was boarded up to prevent any damage. Many local pubs and shops closed and taxi firms pulled their drivers off the roads.

Council leaders had met with Home Secretary Alan Johnson earlier this week in a bid to ban the demonstration, but were told there was no power to do so unless it took place on private property.

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, who is leading the operation for Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said: "Today in Bolton we have seen groups of people, predominantly associated with the UAF, engaging in violent confrontation.

“It is clear to me that a large number have attended with the sole intention of committing disorder and their actions have been wholly unacceptable. Turning their anger onto police officers they acted with, at times, extreme violence and their actions led to injuries to police officers, protesters and members of the public.

“The police are not and should not be the target of such violence and anger and this protest and the actions of some of the protesters is roundly condemned by GMP and by Bolton Council.

“Were it not for the professionalism and bravery of police officers many others would have been seriously injured."
By late afternoon protestors from both groups had been led away from the main town square. Officers frogmarched EDL demonstrators back towards the railway and bus stations, while they continued to chant: “We want our country back.”

UAF members left, chanting: “Whose streets? Our streets.”

Police will now review CCTV of the incident to identify people involved in inciting or committing disorder.
EDL protester Stuart Rogers, 31, from Bolton, draped in the English flag, said he was there “to support England, against the Taliban bombers”, adding: “All my family are in the Army - my dad, and my brother, who has just done 11 months in Afghanistan. Why are our troops out there when they should be at home?”

Among those arrested were UAF joint secretary Weymann Bennett, who organised the protest, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit violent disorder, and Martin Smith, who runs the Love Music Hate Racism campaign.

Second World War veteran Bertie Lois, 89, who protested with the UAF, said: “I fought the Second World War against these Nazis. What did I fight for if we let them? The EDL are the enemy. I would say to them ’you are the guys we fought for, what are you doing?’"

Simon Marsden, 37, also supported the UAF. He said: “Something has got to be done about these fascists who come into our town where there is no problem on the streets.

“They have come in trying to cause conflict. There is no room for them in this day and age.”

Louis Kang-Mascarenhis, a 19-year-old student, added: "I was very surprised by the number of EDL. They need to educate themselves. They are trying to stir up hatred by coming into a town with a large Asian population.”
Two UAF demonstrators were taken to hospital, one with a minor head injury and the other with a minor ear injury, police said. A 19-year-old man received treatment for an ongoing health problem and a 16-year-old girl was treated after suffering a panic attack.
The EDL describes itself as a peaceful, non-political group campaigning against “militant Islam”, but a previous rally in Manchester last year turned violent, resulting in 44 arrests and 10 injuries.

timesonline

Tories 'airbrushed' ethnic minority candidates from campaign leaflets (UK)

Party denies keeping photographs of its non-white candidates out to pander to the BNP's supporters

The Conservatives have been accused of "pandering to prejudice" by omitting pictures of their non-white election candidates from campaign literature in areas where they are fighting the BNP.

Claims by the Tory leader, David Cameron, to be promoting ethnic diversity were called into question after an entire series of campaign calendars issued in east London – the front line of the fight against the BNP – contained only photographs of their white candidates.
The Conservatives denied that the move amounted to deliberate "airbrushing" of ethnic minority candidates. They insisted that the lack of photographs of their non-white candidates on all campaign calendars dropped through letter boxes was because their list of candidates had not been completed when the material was published. But they could not explain why the names of the non-white candidates, and their phone numbers, did appear, suggesting they had already been signed up to campaign for seats on Barking and Dagenham council. When contacted by the Observer, one Tory council candidate, Wale Oguntona, who is of Nigerian descent, said: "I have been told that all inquiries have to be handled by Simon Jones [the parliamentary candidate]."

On Saturday night Simon Woolley, the national co-ordinator and founder of Operation Black Vote, which campaigns to promote black people in politics, said: "There is a clear intent from the Conservative party to airbrush its candidates out of these leaflets. It is extremely disappointing, given that the Conservative leadership recognises the power of the black vote. This is pandering to prejudice. You can either confront race hatred or pander to it, as they are doing by having only white faces on their material."

Woolley said the party was "covering itself" with the release of pictures that appeared to be cobbled together.

Margaret Mullane, a Labour council candidate, said she had never seen her Tory opponent, Samson Omosule, on the campaign trail. "It would appear they do not want to let the gentleman out. The Labour team has not seen him."

Sadiq Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting and minister of state for transport, said: "If everything is as it appears, this is very worrying. David Cameron talks of open politics and a changed Conservative party, but here it looks as though they are scared of acknowledging their own candidates.

The glossy calendars, bearing pictures of Cameron and Jones on the front, were distributed in wards across Dagenham and Rainham. They are key pieces of campaign literature designed for people to keep on their walls.

The Tories said it was "fiction" to suggest that non-white candidates had been left off deliberately and said there was plenty of material showing these candidates. They forwarded different material to the Observer with photographs of the non-white candidates prominently displayed. But it appeared that these images had been superimposed onto the new material so that they were next to their white colleagues. They were not original, group photos.
Operation Black Vote will publish research this week showing that the black and ethnic minority vote could significantly influence the result in more than 100 parliamentary seats. Cameron has made strenuous efforts to promote the idea of a racially diverse Conservative party, but critics say that in areas where the BNP is a force and there is strong anti-immigrant feeling, parties can be wary of promoting their non-white candidates.

There are fears that in local elections on 6 May the BNP could seize control of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It currently has 12 councillors to Labour's 37 and the Tories' two. In the Barking parliamentary seat, Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, is standing against Labour's Margaret Hodge.

Ian Austin, the communities minister, says in today's Observer that Labour needs to change its tactics to confront the BNP. "The old tactics of bans, pickets and protests no longer work. Legal action over membership rules is counterproductive, too. In the coming election, candidates from mainstream parties will have to take on the BNP at public meetings, win the argument and persuade voters the BNP is wrong."

The Tories have been embroiled in a row about immigration in nearby Romford, where leaflets were distributed claiming the floodgates had been opened to mass immigration. The materialwas said to be "promoted" by Andrew Rosindell, the local MP. Rosindell was quick to distance himself from the material a fortnight ago. He said: "I did not write or approve this flyer." But he later told the Romford Recorder: "I don't think they're inflammatory; it's how people feel."
The Guardian

FRENCH NEO-NAZIS SENT TO PRISON

Twelve participants of a neo-Nazi organisation in suburban Paris have been sentenced to prison. The group, Nomad 88, gained public attention in May 2008 when three of its members went on a shooting spree to "purge" the suburbs of immigrants. The sentences, handed down Thursday by the Regional Court in Evry, south of the capital, ranged from two weeks probation to two and a half years for membership of the violent gang, and for arms possession. Two men, one of them the suspected leader of Nomad 88, were each ordered to pay damages of 5,000 euros. Defence lawyer David Dassa-Le Deist welcomed the verdict as "balanced”, while the public prosecutor, Marc de Cathelineau, said it did not judge the men “for their ideological aberration, but for their actions”. The men, who range in age from 20 to 37, had been arrested following their shooting spree at Saint-Michel-sur-Orge in May 2008, which did not leave any casualties. During a house search, weapons as well as extreme-right literature and objects were found, among them some bearing the portrait of Adolf Hitler and the swastika. The group called itself Nomad 88 in reference to “Heil Hitler”, with H being the eighth letter in the alphabet. Its rules stipulated that “to become a member you have to be white, national-socialist or racist”.


rfi.fr

CANADIAN NAZIS TO RALLY IN CALGARY TODAY MARCH 21st

According to the Anti Racist Network (ARN), white-supremacist demonstrations are planned for B.C.'s Lower Mainland and Victoria on Sunday. What is traditionally the International Day for the Elimination of Racism, the neo-Nazis have declared White Pride Worldwide Day. ARN, the activist group No One Is Illegal (NOII), and others are preparing a counter-rally to confront white supremacist groups such as Blood and Honour Canada, and Advocates for White Civil Rights. “Several different groups and communities have called for a gathering to let them know they are not welcome and to celebrate our diversity to oppose their hatred and bigotry,” says NOII on its Web site. ARN says it expects hundreds to show up in support of multiculturalism. In Calgary, the neo-Nazi/white pride groups Aryan Guard and White European Bloodlines are also expected to rally. At last year’s event in Calgary, an estimated 500 anti-racists confronted 30 white supremacists, resulting in violence and three arrests. White pride demonstrations have taken place on the day in Calgary and Toronto in recent years, but observers say gatherings have not occurred in British Columbia for some time. Anita Bromberg, national director of Legal Affairs for B’nai Brith Canada, an organization that fights anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry, says members of the Aryan Guard in Ontario seem to have come together and set up in B.C. “It is unfortunate to see that this kind of open display of intolerance would come to the streets of any place in Canada,” said Bromberg. “To watch these guys march down the street if you were, for instance, a holocaust survivor—it's a pretty scary moment.” Bromberg follows and has studied the Web sites of groups such as the Aryan Guard and Storm Front, and says “a quick perusal would suggest that their attitudes are unfortunately very hurtful if not hateful.” Aryan Guard founder Kyle Mckee, who was arrested in Winnipeg last December, is charged with two counts of attempted murder in connection with a November bombing that police say targeted residents of a Calgary apartment.

Movement of Hate
March 21 has been recognized the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination since 1960 after the massacre of demonstrators demanding an end to apartheid in Sharpesville, South Africa. It has only been since 2000 that neo-Nazi and white nationalist organizations have claimed March 21 as White Pride Worldwide Day against what they call multi-racial supremacy. The white pride movement has been growing alongside a burgeoning music business worth more than $3.4 million, according to Interpol and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Ironically, although white power music has been driven underground due to bans throughout Europe, the United States has become a Mecca and haven for the industry due to First Amendment protections. Power music song lyrics fan feelings of anger, blind rage, and violent tendencies, and frequently include exhortations to kill. “In their view they're a victimized group because as more and more immigrants come into Canada they see their white world fading away,” says Bromberg. Just last week a man who had been suspended from his job at an Edmonton car dealership for making racial comments walked into his former place of work and opened fire, killing one man and seriously wounding another before turning the gun on himself. The man, described by his co-workers as a white supremacist, had a swastika tattooed on his body, according to news reports. The planned activities of neo-Nazi groups have spawned a countrywide network of racism-resistance groups who are firmly countering the aggression. The Calgary-based One People’s Project: Hate Has Consequences has declared on its Web site that it plans to confront the racist groups nonviolently should they show up. In the United States, a neo-Nazi group called the Illinois National Socialist Front is planning to march in Chicago on March 21. South Side Chicago Anti-Racist Action is calling for “other groups inside and outside of Chicago to stand with us against fascism,” and join in a counter-rally to confront the group. Bromberg supports the anti-racist groups’ actions, saying the best way to counter white supremacists is to “shine a light on their activities.” “No one is denying them their pride. What we're denying them is the right to be intolerant, because there is no such right in Canada,” Bromberg said. “We've seen how a belief in the supremacy of the white race once led the world into chaos,” she said. “We certainly don't want that intolerance here on our streets.”

a video report on this



Links
the epoch times

For more information and some background on the Neo-Nazi groups involved please visit a great website that we work closely with.
 Stop Racism Canada

China hits out at UK human rights report

China has accused Britain of putting on a political show after a UK review of human rights around the world was highly critical of Beijing.

The report, issued on Wednesday, named China as one of some 20 nations where there was cause for serious concern about human rights.
Burma, Zimbabwe and North Korea were also named as countries of concern.
The report said there had been a marked deterioration in some areas of human rights in China.

China's response was blunt. Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the fact that all the nations singled out were developing countries showed the report was "simply a political show".

He asked why Britain did not talk about itself and other Western nations which, he said, had violated human rights.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband had released the report immediately after visiting China.

In Beijing he had raised the case of Gao Zhisheng, one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers, who was taken away by police last year and has vanished.
The UK report highlighted as areas of concern China's increasing harassment of defence lawyers and the detention of human rights activists.
Mr Qin was asked several times about Gao Zhisheng's case but he said he had nothing to add.

He then asked reporters to stop asking about the case, saying: "I will not answer you", adding "so I hope you will give up such efforts".
BBC News

Racial inequality still rife across Western world

The UN day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has been on the global calendar for 35 years, but experts say there's a long way to go before it becomes redundant. Not least due to a rise in Islamophobia.

When the twin towers came crashing to the ground on September 11th 2001, little could have prepared Muslim communities across the Western world for the fallout that was to land in their laps. In the immediate aftermath there was a rapid increase in attacks against members of Muslim communities, a rise in vandalism of mosques and a general sense of marginalisation.

And many Muslims would say that feeling of having been pushed away from mainstream society has never gone away. A study on discrimination against Muslims conducted by the Fundamental Rights Agency last year revealed that one in three participants had been at the receiving end of discriminatory behavior in the previous 12 months.

It is such statistics which have ushered the term Islamophobia into the English language, but for all its usage, there is some disagreement about what it actually means, whether it refers to anti-religious or anti-racial sentiment. Are Muslims being discriminated against on race grounds?

Sarah Isal, deputy director of the Runnymede Trust racial equality think tank says yes.

"Islamophobia in the way we mean it is about the very real discrimination faced by a particular group because of the perception of belonging to a particular religion," she said. "So in that sense it is used as a proxy for racism."

Moreover, she told Deutsche Welle, that although Islamic groups are now facing heightened levels of discrimination, they have been the target of racial prejudice for a long time.

Changing identity
What is new however, is that while once upon a time Muslims in the West might have referred to themselves as Asian, and viewed themselves as part of a wider ethnic minority group, they now describe themselves as Muslim.
And in keeping with that pattern of identification, there have been great efforts in recent years to make the Muslim community easily accessible to those outside it. But Islamophobia expert Dr. Chris Allen told Deutsche Welle that such initiatives are not necessarily the best way to promote tolerance.

"People have said if we increase understanding about Islam then people will become more aware and the prejudice will disappear," he said. "But I think that is a naïve approach."

Allen believes that non-mosque-goers don't need to know about Friday prayers, but should understand acceptance as a social phenomenon and learn that discrimination and anti-Muslim sentiment do not have a place in the modern world.

"Let's talk about the problem and not about Islam as the problem," he said. "To address Islamophobia, we don't need to talk on an inter-faith basis, but we need to get Muslims to be seen as 'normal'."
To do that he says it is crucial to look at areas of common ground among all ethnic and religious groups and for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike to stop apportioning and accepting unrealistic blame.

"If someone commits a terrorist attack, let's not apologize because they might have some commonality with someone else elsewhere."

What's 'normal' anyway?
But pushing the notion of 'normal' and making people open their eyes to what they don't want to see is never going to be easy, not in Europe and not across the Atlantic.
Bill Hackwell, an organiser with the US anti-racism A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition told Deutsche Welle that racial discrimination is alive and kicking throughout America, and that the situation has been going from bad to worse, exacerbated by the global recession.

"There has been an attempt to scapegoat the economic crisis on the back of immigrant workers who make up a large part of the workforce," he told Deutsche Welle

People have lost the standard of living they had become accustomed to and this hardship has led to an increase in reactionary groups that whip up anti-immigrant feelings.

But while Hackwell acknowledges this trend as a very real problem, he says xenophobic attitudes are as much about events in the past as anxiety over the future. Even though civil rights were finally won in the states in 1964, the victory was the result of a struggle and not sudden public enlightenment. And that struggle, Hackwell says, is still going on today.
He cites lynchings and unfounded detentions in the south and explosive unemployment and incarceration rates for African Americans as proof of the racial inequality that still rumbles and rages inside the belly of the world's largest democratic power.

"The US likes to talk about democracy, but nothing could be further from the truth if you are a person of colour," he said. "An African American male has more chance of ending up in prison than at college."

Obama the savior?
So has Obama done anything to change that? "Nothing," says Hackwell.

"Just because we now have an African-American president, which in and of itself was a tremendous feat, that is only one person and that doesn't change the very basic direction of the system and the system is very racist. The US is a very racist country."

But looking in to America from the other side of the water, Obama's election is seen as a definite step forward and something for European societies to aspire. Because as it stands there's not a one among them which is anywhere near offering the job of head of state or government to a member of an ethnic minority.

dw-world

EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS BODIES CALL FOR DECISIVE ACTION AGAINST RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA

Friday the 19th, two day's before international anti-racism day European human rights and anti-Racism bodies released a statement in regard to racism and xenophobia with an emphasis on the internet.

EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS BODIES CALL FOR DECISIVE ACTION AGAINST RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA

In a joint statement ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) strongly condemn manifestations of racism and xenophobia, with a particular focus on the Internet:

"We must remain vigilant in the face of racist behaviour and incidents, including hate crimes and malicious expressions of hate and racist sentiments on the Internet.

"Our organizations are alarmed by patterns and manifestations of racism such as the ever-increasing use of the Internet by racist groups for recruitment, radicalisation, command and control, as well as for the intimidation and harassment of opponents. The Internet has become an important communications channel that links people in 'cyberspace', who then meet and take action in the physical world.

"Social networking sites are now prime locations for the spread of racist and xenophobic views, especially among young people. We must challenge such views, while being careful not to undermine freedom of expression.

"The danger emanating from hate spread through the Internet has long been recognized by the international community and our organizations dedicate serious attention to this issue. Prominent examples include ECRI's General Policy Recommendation N° 6 on Combating the Dissemination of Racist, Xenophobic and Antisemitic Material via the Internet and the upcoming 22 March ODIHR expert meeting on challenges of combating crimes motivated by hate on the Internet.

"At the same time, we strongly believe in the Internet's huge potential to overcome bias and prejudices based on characteristics including race, colour, language, nationality or national origin or religion. This potential should be fully utilized.

"We, the signatories of this statement, believe that:

+ governments should investigate and prosecute criminal threats of violence based on racial, ethnic, religious or other bias and fully use existing domestic and international legal instruments and co-operation channels in this regard;

+ governments should provide training to law enforcement officers and prosecutors on addressing hate crimes motivated by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other related bias on the Internet;

+ governments should reflect on whether national legislation provides an adequate basis to respond to crimes motivated by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other related bias on the Internet;

+ governments should establish or expand educational programmes for children and young people about expressions motivated by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other related bias they may encounter on the Internet and include media literacy training in school curricula;

+ effective measures addressing hate on the Internet that do not endanger freedom of speech and expression should be identified and disseminated;

+ civil society should explore ways of utilizing the popularity of social networking sites to combat racism;

+ civil society's efforts to monitor the Internet for manifestations of hate, and efforts to share and publicise the findings should be encouraged and supported;

+ the Internet industry should take an active role in addressing the issue of hate on the Internet and develop and implement effective complaints response mechanisms while respecting freedom of expression."

Ambassador Janez Lenarcic

Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Morten Kjaerum

Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

Nils Muiznieks

Chair of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)

stopracism.ca

International Day for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination

The General assembly of the United Nations declared 21 March the International Day for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. This day was implemented as a reaction to the murder of 70 anti-apartheid demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa, in 1960. Apartheid was a legal system of racial segregation enforced by the government of South Africa between 1948 and 1990. Not even 20 years have passed by since this hard-line institutional racism was abolished and still segregating ideologies based on ‘race’ can be recognised everyday. The winning thought is that there is only one race: the human race!

Each year around 21 March UNITED coordinates the European-wide Action Week Against Racism. Activists, NGO’s, universities, schools, municipalities and a wide variety of different organisations carry out hundreds of activities all around Europe in order to make a change. Through the actions implemented during the annual campaign thousands of people all over Europe actively engage themselves for tolerance, equal rights and celebrate the diversity of Europe. The activities taking place in the Action Week range from very basic poster actions in schools, public and working places, to intercultural youth festivals, street actions, lectures, living libraries, film screenings, conferences, multicultural football games or cleaning the walls from racist graffiti and many, many more.

for activities in your country that you can get involved with please click the link below.

unitedagainstracism.org

Dozens arrested as anti-Muslim English Defence League protestors battle rivals

The Bolton EDL march news so far

Riot police have been battling to control thousands of rival demonstrators taking part in an ill-tempered city centre protest organised by a controversial right-wing group.

Hundreds of officers, some horse-mounted and armed with batons, were separating supporters the English Defence League (EDL) and members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF).

A number of officers have been injured in ugly clashes and two members of the public were taken to a shop for treatment after being caught up in the trouble. A series of smoke bombs were also set off as UAF groups chanted “fascist scum off our streets".

A police helicopter has been dispatched to assist the officers on the ground.
The EDL organised the rally in Bolton, Lancashire, to protest against "radical Muslims" and Sharia law, but so far they have been out-numbered by more than 2,000 anti-fascist UAF supporters who organised a counter-protest.

Police have arrested 31 UAF protesters and three from the EDL. Hundreds more EDL supporters are expected to arrive this afternoon.

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, who is leading the operation for Greater Manchester Police, said: “There have been unwarranted attacks on police lines that have resulted in injuries.

“This is not a peaceful protest and we are facing a lot of hostility. The number of arrests already made is a clear indication that this is not a peaceful protest and some demonstrators are determined to cause trouble. This is not acceptable.”

The protest is taking place in front of the town hall, which has been boarded up to prevent any damage. Many local pubs and shops have closed and taxi firms have pulled their drivers off the roads.

Council leaders met with Home Secretary Alan Johnson earlier this week in a bid to ban the demonstration, but were told there was no power to do so unless it took place on private property.

The EDL describes itself as a peaceful, non-political group campaigning against “militant Islam”, but a previous rally in Manchester last year turned violent, resulting in 44 arrests and 10 injuries.

A statement on its website instructs followers “not to wave” in case the action is mistaken for a Nazi salute. It adds: “Bolton is a massive opportunity for EDL to show the world that we can peacefully protest, and the world is indeed watching.

“This protest will have a much more defined structure than previous, and we believe you will all enjoy the protest immensely as well as having our say. We will not ever submit to the radicals. We will not tolerate their intolerance. We will stand firm and further the cause of the EDL.”

Second World War veteran Bertie Lois, 89, who is protesting with the UAF, said: “I fought the Second World War against these Nazis. What did I fight for if we let them? The EDL are the enemy. I would say to them ’you are the guys we fought for, what are you doing?’"

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of UAF, said the group had to stand up to “EDL thugs” to prevent them from spreading their “race hate” message.

He said: “We have beaten fascists and racists before by standing up in unity against them. We cannot stand by and let EDL racists attack Muslims or any section of our community. Those who say we shouldn’t protest are effectively handing over the streets of Bolton to the EDL."

times

Racist thugs target gurkha in Bristol (UK)

He bravely served this country for 15 years as a Gurkha in the British Army.

But since Dan Tamang became a security guard in Bristol 18 months ago, he has been the victim of racist abuse on seven separate occasions.

The 45-year-old has been assaulted, harassed and insulted by adults and children at Kings Chase Shopping Centre in Kingswood.

Mr Tamang was based in Chatham, Kent, and served with the British Army in the Falklands, Kenya, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand and France.

But this has not translated into respect and the abuse hurled at Mr Tamang has often been coated in ignorance, with boys and girls as young as 12 shouting the slur "Chinky" and others telling him to "go home".
"In my country, the children must respect the adults," he told the Evening Post. Last September, the married father-of-two was helping a woman who had problems with her car park ticket, when a stranger started causing problems.

He said: "He came towards me and he blocked my road. He said 'you go back to your country'.

"I tried to get past him and he said 'no, you're going nowhere', and he started pushing me.

"What was I supposed to do? So I called the police." The 56-year-old culprit was arrested, convicted of battery and ordered to pay compensation.

In fact, thanks to South Gloucestershire's Partnership Against Hate Crime (PAHC) and the support of his employers, all of the culprits have been tracked down and punished.

Nepalese Mr Tamang said: "When this happens I feel angry, but I'm happy with the support I get from my work and the police."

Mr Tamang added: "I enjoy my job very much and I just want to get on with my life. I would encourage people to call the police if they are abused like this. I have found the help really good."

THE tough Nepalese fighters who make up the Brigade of Gurkhas have a long history of loyalty to the British Army.

The Brigade of Gurkhas is one of the most decorated British Army regiments and 13 of its soldiers have been awarded the Victoria Cross.

● The Gurkha motto is "Better to die than be a coward".

● More than 250,000 people signed a petition handed to Downing Street in November last year calling for better treatment of veterans and their families.

● Indian-born actress Joanna Lumley has been an active supporter of the campaign. Her father served for 30 years with the 6th Gurkha Rifles and was a Chindit in Burma.

● Philanthropist millionaire and former owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, Sir Jack Hayward has donated £20,000 to the Gurkha Justice campaign. As a RAF flight lieutenant in World War II, he flew Gurkhas into battle in Burma.

● The Nepalese fighters still carry into battle their traditional weapon – an 18-inch curved knife known as the kukri.

● It was said that if a kukri was drawn in battle it had to "taste blood" before returning it to its sheath. But now it is mainly used for cooking.

● The British first recruited the Nepalese after suffering heavy casualties in the invasion of the country. They noted the toughness of the troops fighting against them and the British East India Company signed a peace deal, which also allowed it to recruit from the Nepalese army's ranks.

● Following the partition of India in 1947, four Gurkha regiments from the Indian army were transferred to the British Army. They became today's Gurkha Brigade.

● The selection procedure for the regiment requires would-be recruits to run uphill for 40 minutes carrying a basket filled with 70lb (32kg) of rocks.

This is Bristol

Fury as 'racist' Scottish university excludes South of England students

Edinburgh University has been accused of 'anti-English' bias after discriminating against applicants from the South.

Admissions rules posted on its website state that 'additional weighting' will be given to students from Scotland and the far north of England.
The move aims to ensure 'local' applicants get on popular courses.

But headteachers at leading English public schools condemned the policy as 'potentially illegal and racist' and unfair to English families whose taxes support Scotland.
The move triggered suspicions that the university - whose past students include Prime Minister Gordon Brown - is trying to change the social make-up of its campus.

It has traditionally been a magnet for students from aristocratic and society circles, attracting the reputation of being 'English and posh'.

One of the unhappy English headteachers is Richard Cairns, of Brighton College. He said only two out of 27 applicants to Edinburgh had so far been successful this year

Mr Cairns, who used to teach in Scotland, said: 'I asked around schools in the South East. They have all had the same experience. Edinburgh has opted to turn in on itself in a manner that strikes me as potentially illegal and racist.'

The university - among the top 20 in the world and a member of the Russell Group of leading UK colleges - is understood to be the only UK institution to give priority to applicants from certain areas.


Its website stated: 'We want to make sure that local applicants are not prevented from studying their chosen subject.' It added 'additional weighting' will go to students who live in Scotland, Cumbria, Northumberland, Durham, Teesside, and Tyne and Wear.

Andrew Halls, head of King's College School, Wimbledon, South London, said he had been 'quite struck' by the lack of offers from the university this year.

'Edinburgh has been ruthless and, at worst, is adopting a depressingly xenophobic approach.

'They are losing a lot of very able candidates who would love to study in Scotland.'

A spokesman for the university said: 'The percentage of English entrants has risen year-on-year over the past few years.

'In 2009, 41 per cent of UK entrants were from England
dailymail

Doctors apologise to Jews for persecution (Czech Republic)

The Czech Doctors' Chamber (CLK) yesterday unanimously approved its apology to Jewish doctors for the persecution they faced from October 1938 to March 1939, before Nuremberg Laws completely ousted Jews from public life, CLK spokesman Michal Sojka told CTK.

 The CLK's pre-war management assisted, on October 14, 1938, five months before the Nazi occupation of the Czech Lands, in preparing a memorandum containing sharply anti-Semitic measures.

"The memorandum cannot be viewed but as an anti-Semitic and discriminatory document for the signing of which by our [chamber] members we feel obliged to apologise. We do so without any efforts at assessing and judging our predecessors' motives after 72 years. Dear members of CLK, colleagues, doctors of Jewish origin, we apologise to you for what our predecessors did," Sojka cited from the document CLK will release on its website.
Prague's Jewish Museum director Leo Pavlat welcomed the apology.

"It is an expression of decency, the more that the apology for their colleagues has been voiced by those who are not at fault," Pavlat has told daily Lidove noviny.

The petition was also hailed by Dagmar Lieblova, head of the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Initiative group whose father was one of the persecuted doctors in the period of so called "Second Czechoslovak Republic" following the Munich Agreement and preceding the Nazi occupation of the Czech Lands.

"Nevertheless, this should happen far earlier," Lieblova said, referring to the apology.

In the memorandum of 1938, the Czech chambers of doctors, defence lawyers, notaries and engineers proposed that the government restrict the number of Jews in the relevant professions to a percentage corresponding the share of Jews in the country's population. In future, the memorandum said, it should be inadmissible for Jews to work as doctors, lawyers and engineers.

The Czech Bar Association apologised to their colleagues of Jewish origin last year.

In 1938 the managements of the Doctors' Chamber in Prague and Central Association of Czechoslovak Doctors approved the memorandum on doctors' behalf.

The doctors' chamber was abolished in Czechoslovakia after the Communist coup in 1948. It was renewed only in 1991, after the fall of the communist regime. CLK membership is compulsory for all doctors who want to perform doctors' profession. CLK has 46,000 members now.

The Prague Monitor

EDL rally in Bolton ‘may lead to something positive’ (UK)

THE boss of Bolton’s Faith Leader’s Forum says he is hoping something good will come out of today’s English Defence League rally.

Ahead of today’s controversial event and a counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism, the Bishop of Bolton, the Rt Rev Chris Edmondson said he hoped it would bring Bolton’s diverse communities closer together.

Civic and faith leaders last week launched the One Bolton pledge, to promote community cohesion.

The Rt Rev Edmondson said: “I hope something good will come out of this because Bolton has a very good track record when it comes to community cohesion.

“Thousands of people have signed up to the One Bolton pledge and this is an ongoing thing. Everyone has a right to free speech, but the track record suggests these kind of events bring violence and disorder. We would urge people not to get involved in counter demonstrations.”

Leaders from all political parties and denominations have signed up to the pledge, as have the Bolton Wanderers squad and The Bolton News.

The pledge says: “We celebrate the diversity of Bolton and unite to create One Bolton, recognising differences, celebrating communities and commit to encouraging harmony.”

Yesterday, preparations ahead of the rally continued, with further fencing put up in the town centre.

A police spokesman assured people there would be a strong presence in the town with a number of officers on horseback, while many businesses were expected to have their windows boarded up.

The EDL rally and the Unite Against Fascism protest are expected to draw thousands of people to the town centre.

l The One Bolton pledge can be signed online, where residents can learn all about the pledge and its supporters and donate money to the BBF. Residents can also pick up a postcard to sign up to the pledge, which will be available at libraries and community centres across the borough.

Alternatively, people can show their support by texting PLEDGE to 70007 — texts cost £3, plus the cost of a standard message, and £2.55 will be donated directly to the BBF.

The Bolton News

HATE SPEECH INFILTRATES SOCIAL-NETWORKING SITES, REPORT SAYS

The unregulated nature of the Web has aided a proliferation of cyber-hate, according to a report the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance released Monday. The report, Digital Terrorism and Hate 2010, notes that there are about 11,500 hate-affiliated Web pages, a 20 percent jump from last year's study. According to the Wiesenthal Center, personal blogs as well as mainstream social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter are easily flooded with racist and terrorist-related content. "The spike is not in traditional Web sites in the United States," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "It's more global and almost all in the social-networking area." Mark Weitzman, director of government affairs for the Wiesenthal Center and a co-author of the report, said home-grown terrorism suspects have an active online presence. He cited the case of a Pennsylvania woman who officials say called herself "Jihad Jane." The woman, Colleen LaRose, has been indicted on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country. She had been on the radar of the Wiesenthal Center for the past year, Weitzman said. "We ask, 'Are they just coming out of the woodwork?' and the answer in every single case is the Internet link," Cooper said. Although these sites are monitored, the report's authors said, they have become increasingly alarmed by the "lone wolf" effect, making it difficult for law enforcement to discern which threats are legitimate and which are simply talk. For example, the late James W. Von Brunn, the 88-year-old who was charged in the fatal shooting of a security guard at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington in June, kept a Web site called the Holy Western Empire. On it, he blamed a "Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys" and "a Jew judge" for a six-year prison term he served in the 1980s. However, "there's no equation that says someone who posts a rant ... is going to go on a shooting rampage," said Weitzman, who has testified in front of Congress and the United Nations on the issue of digital hate. Perhaps even more chilling are the growing numbers of "how to" Web sites in which terror groups routinely post instructional manuals and videos on bombmaking and computer hacking. The study also explored e-commerce and how it can be used to market hate. In February, an eBay merchant offered "an original Holocaust ring," claiming that it came from his uncle who was posted at the Dachau concentration camp during World War II. EBay pulled the Web page before a sale was made. Founded in 1977, the Simon Wiesenthal Center was named after a Jew who survived the Holocaust and became famous for his career as a Nazi hunter.


CNN